The functional capacity of plantaricin-producing Lactobacillus plantarum SF9C and S-layer-carrying Lactobacillus brevis SF9B to withstand gastrointestinal transit

Katarina Butorac,Andreja Leboš Pavunc,Jagoda Šušković,Ksenija Uroić,Simone Scalabrin,Blaženka Kos,Marina Kukolj,Antonio Starčević,Martina Banić,Jurica Žučko,Slobodanka Radović,Jasna Novak,Nada Oršolić,Ksenija Durgo

doi:10.1186/s12934-020-01365-6

Katarina Butorac, Andreja Leboš Pavunc + Show 12 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12934-020-01365-6

Copy DOI

Abstract

BackgroundWe evaluated the functional capacity of plantaricin-producing Lactobacillus plantarum SF9C and S-layer-carrying Lactobacillus brevis SF9B to withstand gastrointestinal transit and to compete among the gut microbiota in vivo. Considering the probiotic potential of Lb. brevis SF9B, this study aims to investigate the antibacterial activity of Lb. plantarum SF9C and their potential for in vivo colonisation in rats, which could be the basis for the investigation of their synergistic functionality.ResultsA plantaricin-encoding cluster was identified in Lb. plantarum SF9C, a strain which efficiently inhibited the growth of Listeria monocytogenes ATCC® 19111™ and Staphylococcus aureus 3048. Homology-based three-dimensional (3D) structures of SF9C plantaricins PlnJK and PlnEF were predicted using SWISS-MODEL workspace and the helical wheel representations of the plantaricin peptide helices were generated by HELIQUEST. Contrary to the plantaricin-producing SF9C strain, the S-layer-carrying SF9B strain excluded Escherichia coli 3014 and Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium FP1 from the adhesion to Caco-2 cells. Finally, PCR-DGGE analysis of the V2–V3 regions of the 16S rRNA gene confirmed the transit of the two selected lactobacilli through the gastrointestinal tract (GIT). Microbiome profiling via the Illumina MiSeq platform revealed the prevalence of Lactobacillus spp. in the gut microbiota of the Lactobacillus-treated rats, even on the 10th day after the Lactobacillus application, compared to the microbiota of the healthy and AlCl3-exposed rats before Lactobacillus treatment.ConclusionThe combined application of Lb. plantarum SF9C and Lb. brevis SF9B was able to influence the intestinal microbiota composition in rats, which was reflected in the increased abundance of Lactobacillus genus, but also in the altered abundances of other bacterial genera, either in the model of healthy or aberrant gut microbiota of rats. The antibacterial activity and capacity to withstand in GIT conditions contributed to the functional aspects of SF9C and SF9B strains that could be incorporated in the probiotic-containing functional foods with a possibility to positively modulate the gut microbiota composition.

Highlights

We evaluated the functional capacity of plantaricin-producing Lactobacillus plantarum SF9C and S-layer-carrying Lactobacillus brevis SF9B to withstand gastrointestinal transit and to compete among the gut microbiota in vivo
Since preclinical evidence indicates that probiotic Lactobacillus strains may positively influence gut microbiota composition in different disorders followed by microbiota disturbance [11, 16], this study aims to assess colonisation potential and the capacity of SF9C and SF9B strains to affect microbiome alterations in vivo, when applied together, either in healthy or AlCl3-exposed rats as a model of disturbed microbiota
Rapid Annotations using Subsystems Technology (RAST) of sequences obtained by Illumina MiSeq platform, and tblastn v. 2.2.27 comparison of the assembled contigs with the sequences deposited in NCBI employed for whole genome sequencing (WGS) identified SF9C strain as Lb. plantarum

Summary

Introduction

We evaluated the functional capacity of plantaricin-producing Lactobacillus plantarum SF9C and S-layer-carrying Lactobacillus brevis SF9B to withstand gastrointestinal transit and to compete among the gut microbiota in vivo. Considering the probiotic potential of Lb. brevis SF9B, this study aims to investigate the antibacterial activity of Lb. plantarum SF9C and their potential for in vivo colonisation in rats, which could be the basis for the investigation of their synergistic functionality. Bacteriocin-producing Lactobacillus strains may achieve a competitive advantage in the surrounding microenvironment, which represents an attractive approach in terms of food biopreservation [13]. Their application expands even to the aspect of health since bacteriocin production is recognised as an important probiotic trait and bacteriocins have even been proposed as alternatives to antibiotics [12, 39]. Bacteriocins aid the survival of the producing strain and may act as quorum sensing molecules in the intestinal environment

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion